Sukh Ram, the former telecom minister in PV Narsimha Rao government facing charges in 1993 telecom scam has been asked by the Supreme Court to surrender before the trial court on Thursday.

Along with him former bureaucrat Runu Ghosh and Hyderabad-based businessman P Rama Rao have also been asked to surrender.

The three had challenged the Delhi High Court order which had dismissed the appeal of Sukhram against his conviction in 1996 telecom scam and upheld a three-year jail sentences handed out to him by a trial court. Sukh Ram headed the telecom ministry in Narasimha Rao’s government.

The bench had directed them to surrender forthwith before the trial court. A division bench of justices S Ravindra Bhat and GP Mittal had also upheld the conviction of ex-deputy director-general of the department of telecom (DoT) Runu Ghosh and Hyderabad-based Advanced Radio Masts (ARM) managing director P Rama Rao in the scam. The trial court had awarded two years of jail sentence to Runu Ghosh and three years to Hyderabad-based Advanced Radio Masts (ARM) managing director P Rama Rao.

Sukh Ram along with Renu Ghosh and Prama Rao was convicted by a trial court in a case related to the award of a contract to a Hyderabad firm for supplying telecom equipment to government at exorbitant rates.